more
than 5,000 domestic Chinese enterprises had established direct
investments in 172 countries and regions around the world. The
Chinese government faces several economic development challenges:
(a) to sustain adequate job growth for tens of millions of workers
laid off from state-owned enterprises, migrants, and new entrants to
the work force; (b) to reduce corruption and other economic crimes;
and (c) to contain environmental damage and social strife related to
the economy's rapid transformation. Economic development has been
more rapid in coastal provinces than in the interior, and
approximately 200 million rural laborers have relocated to urban
areas to find work. One demographic consequence of the "one child"
policy is that China is now one of the most rapidly aging countries
in the world. Deterioration in the environment - notably air
pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table,
especially in the north - is another long-term problem. China
continues to lose arable land because of erosion and economic
development. In 2007 China intensified government efforts to improve
environmental conditions, tying the evaluation of local officials to
environmental targets, publishing a national climate change policy,
and establishing a high level leading group on climate change,
headed by Premier WEN Jiabao. The Chinese government seeks to add
energy production capacity from sources other than coal and oil as
its double-digit economic growth increases demand. Chinese energy
officials in 2007 agreed to purchase five third generation nuclear
reactors from Western companies. More power generating capacity came
on line in 2006 as large scale investments - including the Three
Gorges Dam across the Yangtze River - were completed.

GDP (purchasing power parity):

$7.099 trillion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):

$3.251 trillion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:

11.9% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):

$5,400 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 11.3%
industry: 48.6%
services: 40.1% (2007 est.)

Labor force:

800.7 million (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:

agriculture: 43%
industry: 25%
services: 32% (2006 est.)

Unemployment rate:

4% unemployment in urban areas; substantial unemployment and
underemployment in rural areas (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line:

8%
note: 21.5 million rural population live below the o